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Modular Systems for Energy Conservation and Efficiency
Published in Yatish T. Shah, Modular Systems for Energy Usage Management, 2020
Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have commissioned a highly efficient fuel cell system that achieves an electrical efficiency in hydrogen operation of over 60%. The newly developed reversible high-temperature fuel cells can not only generate electricity but can also be used for the production of hydrogen by electrolysis [69]. Reversible fuel cells, or “reversible solid oxide cells” or rSOC for short, combine virtually two devices into one. The cell type is therefore particularly suitable for the construction of plants that can store electricity in the form of hydrogen, and these can back-flow at a later date again. Such storage technology could play an important role in the energy transition. It is needed to compensate for fluctuations in renewable energies and to counteract the divergence between supply and demand. In addition, it can be used for remote stations on islands and mountains, to ensure a self-sufficient energy supply [69].
Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells
Published in Yixiang Shi, Ningsheng Cai, Tianyu Cao, Jiujun Zhang, High-Temperature Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, 2017
Yixiang Shi, Ningsheng Cai, Tianyu Cao, Jiujun Zhang
From another perspective, global warming as well as depleting fossil fuels have raised growing interest in CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). SOECs using ionic-conducting electrolytes make it possible to effectively electrolyze H2O and CO2, providing an alternative pathway to convert CO2 and H2O into syngas (CO + H2) and pure oxygen [3,8–11]. The syngas produced can then be widely used to produce methanol, gasoline, diesel, and other hydrocarbon fuels through the Fischer–Tropsch (F-T) synthesis process. The integration of SOECs and F-T synthesis is one of the most promising and viable pathways to convert H2O and CO2 into fuels [3,12]. Nuclear energy, being a clean, low-carbon-producing power source with negligible carbon dioxide emissions, can drive SOECs [3,13]. Renewable power sources such as wind and solar power can also drive SOECs to produce fuels. On the other hand, the intermittence, specific site, and fluctuation of these renewable power sources could impact the grid, leading to difficulties in its applications [14]. This intermittence of renewable energy sources can be shifted and stabilized using reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) technologies where electricity is stored in the form of chemical energy via SOECs and then utilized to generate electricity via solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The viability of RSOCs provides an alternative pathway for the storage of seasonal power [3,15–17].
Capacity configuration optimization of a hybrid renewable energy system with hydrogen storage
Published in International Journal of Green Energy, 2022
Guoliang Li, Benfeng Yuan, Min Ge, Guoping Xiao, Tao Li, Jian-Qiang Wang
As mentioned above, many efforts have been made to the design optimization of the HRE system with the hydrogen storage via the low-temperature electrolysis technology. With these electrolysis technologies, the water electrolysis system and fuel cell system in the HRE system are two separate systems, which increase the capital cost and make the HRE system more complex. As the technology matures and the cost falls, reversible solid oxide cells (RSOCs) are being paid more and more attention. RSOC can operate at a higher efficiency with a low energy consumption. Moreover, compared with the low-temperature electrolysis technologies, RSOC can not only run in solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) mode to convert electric energy to hydrogen energy but also run in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) mode to convert hydrogen energy to electric energy (Frank et al. 2018). Therefore, only one set of RSOC systems is needed to meet the requirement of hydrogen-electric energy conversion in the hybrid energy system. However, some practical problems should be considered. First, unlike the low-temperature hydrogen storage technology, the high-temperature RSOC system requires a perfect balance of plant (BOP) for the thermal management (Xing et al. 2018). Thus, a large power is consumed by the BOP, which cannot be ignored in the capacity configuration optimization. Second, the RSOC system has to take a long time to start or stop, which required the system to keep running all the time during operation of the HRE system.